Source: news.nationalpost.com - Friday, September 04, 2015 Before a picture of his death went viral this week, Alan Kurdi was just another “migrant” — the bland word that has come to signify the millions fleeing chaos in Syria. The term is certainly preferable to “cockroaches” and “feral humans,” as one London tabloid writer described the same group of desperate people trying to make it into Europe. But even seemingly innocuous official terms (think of the sneering description of Second World War “DPs,” or Displaced Persons) are rarely neutral. ALIENS: Greek police have a unit whose name is commonly translated as “aliens and border protection branch.” Canadian press have occasionally used that term. It is more common, though, in the United States, where in right-wing circles it’s become code for people who have come to the country from Latin America, especially Mexico. Apart from proposing the construction of a wall along the entire U.S.-Mexico border, Donald Trump has called for the “mandatory return of all criminal aliens.” Such language eerily echoes Adolf Hitler’s frequent references to Jews: “Our national stock has been much adulterated,” he wrote in Mein Kampf, “by the mixture of alien elements.” ASYLUM SEEKERS: The world asylum refers to a sanctuary, a site of protection for anyone who has fallen foul of the law. Yet the residents of Syria and other war-shattered countries who are now fleeing to Europe are not just in search of protection from one side or another in a murderous, l All Related | More on Syria
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